Further instruction comes

The three of us sit in the staircase, out of the enemy’s view and in the strongest possible place to weather a barrage. It’s been a little, so we all expect it fairly soon.

“So, Tatya.” Anton asks me. “What exactly happened?”

I rock forward and backward on the step that I’m sitting on, my rifle across my lap. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Alright, I get it.” The silence returns, until we hear footsteps banging up the stairs.

“That could be them!” Alyona tells us.

The steps before louder but only for us to realize that it is a soldier carrying an anti-tank rifle up the stairs. We slide over and get out of his way.

“Why isn’t he back yet?” Anton grumbles. My heart begins to race again. I was already worried.

The wait is agonizing. Troops come and go but no Nikolai. After a while, Anton speaks up again.

“Maybe I should go and look for him.”

“Hold on.” Alyona tells him. “Give him a few more minutes. Five, maybe.”

“Alright.” Anton says, taking out his watch. “Five minutes.”

I take out my own watch, and stare intently at it, my mind taking me to the worst places. One minute passes. Two. Three. The minute hand nears the fourth minute, the second hand creeping past forty, then fifty.

“One more minute.” Anton says nervously.

Suddenly, we hear the pounding of steps coming up the stairs. Nikolai rounds the corner!

I jump up and hurry down, meeting him halfway to embrace him.

“Miss me?” He asks.

“We were worried.” I respond, breaking the embrace then going back up to retrieve my weapon.

“What’s the news?” Anton asks.

“Ivan doesn’t want to give up. Thinks he might still be out there. We’re supposed to keep our posts for a few more hours.”

“Fuck!” I grumble.

“That all?” Anton asks.

“We need to pull Maxim out of there and get down to the street where someone can take care of him.”

“Fuck.” Anton grumbles. “How bad is it?”

“Pretty fucking bad.”

“Okay. This is what we’ll do.” Anton explains. “You and I will go and… take care of him. Tatya, go take Alyona to spot for you and post up back where you were before.”

“Okay.”

“Alright.”

Anton waves us forward and we follow him up the stairs to the room where we left Maxim.

“Hold on, I want his rifle.” Alyona says. “Might as well so we can cover more ground.”

“No use.” I tell her. “It’s ruined. Let’s just go.”

“Stay safe, girls.”Anton tells us. “We’re going to find new spots after we finish this. We’ll come and get you when it’s time to get out of here.”

“Okay.” I respond apprehensively, then head down the hallway with Alyona. I’m in no rush to put myself back out there. “Fuck this. This is bullshit.” I tell her.

We reach our room, and carefully sneak in. Alyona takes cover, and I crawl back over behind the bookshelf. It’s a better hiding spot, I don’t care if there’s a less chance of me seeing him at this point, I’m just too scared and nervous to expose too much of myself.

Cautiously, I crawl to my spot where I was earlier and take my position, steadying my hand on the book and bringing my eye back to the scope.

“So how did it go with Nikolai?” Alyona whispers to me once we’re settled.

“I had a good night.” I tell her. “I had a lot of fun and I slept pretty good.”

“Details, Tatya!”

“I’ll catch you up.” I tell her. “I’m just having a hard time thinking about anything else. Anything but what I just saw. And I’m nervous. I mean, I’m always nervous in this fucking city but it’s terrible right now.”

“I’m sorry about that.” She tells me. “I’m sorry you have to be here.”

“How are we supposed to just go back to regular life after this, as if nothing happened?” I ask her.

“I don’t know.” She answers. “I just hope we get the chance.”